J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 22nd December 2010Christmas Holiday Spectacular!

[Welcome to the J's Indie/Rock Mayhem Christmas Holiday Spectacular! Just in time to celebrate the holidays with family, it's two hours of Christmas and holiday season related music that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you run for the liquor. My thanks to all the people I've talked with in the last week who submitted ideas for this to flesh out my traditional songs. If you're a long-time listener to the show, you'll recognize a good chunk of these as annual participants, but there's a good bit of new performers as well, so settle in, bring the family around the computer speakers and/or mp3 player, snuggle up and listen. I'll be back next week with a totally normal version of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem.

Now, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 22nd December 2010 show

Them Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
>
Run-DMC - "Christmas in Hollis" [from a very special christmas, a 1989 compilation to raise money for the special olympics. this song is stupidly fun. always has been. always will be.]
Elastica - "I Wanna Be a King of Orient Aah" [from bbc sessions. a cheeky little bend on the classic christmas tune.]
Roadside Graves - "Holiday Road" [from the aquarium drunkard session from earlier this year. a cover of the lindsey buckingham classic.]
Black on White Affair - "Auld Lang Syne" [from in the christmas groove from 2009, a great funk and soul compilation. funky.]
>
Darlene Love - "White Christmas" [from a christmas gift for you from phil spector. one of the two artists in this set who are going to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 2011.]
Tom Waits - "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" [from blue valentines. and here's the other one. very excited that the tom is getting his due.]
the Housemartins - "I Smell Winter" [from now that's what i call quite good. a favorite seasonal song of mine.]
Slade - "Merry Xmas Everybody" [from slade smashes. a huge band in england and a huge song there as well; i first heard it in a commercial when i was studying there in college. pretty fantastic.]
>
the Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" [from brain drain. one of only three decent songs on an otherwise pretty turgid record, this is still a certifiable christmas classic in my book. i think that this is the commercial i refer to in the podcast. not quite what i remember, but that's it.]
James Brown - "Soulful Christmas" [from funky christmas. there's a wealth of james brown christmas stuff out there, so here's one of 'em.]
Big Star - "Jesus Chris" (demo) [from keep an eye on the sky. i've played this every year for the past few years as a christmas thing, but it took on special meaning this year with all the big star related sadness that happened.]
the Beatles - "Christmas Single 1967" [another rip from aquarium drunkard, this time of the beatles' christmas singles club recordings. if you head over there, you can grab all of them from '63 - '69. this particular one had the most entertainment for radio value, i believe.]
>
John Denver - "Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" [from denver's 1975 rocky mountain christmas. i love this song, i don't care what bryan says.]
the Pogues - "Fairytale of New York" [from if i should fall from grace with god. several people on twitter commented that this was their favorite christmas song of all time and i really can't disagree with them. it's just note perfect.]
Patton Oswalt - "My Christmas Memory" [from feelin' kinda patton. this would be my favorite christmas stand-up bit of all time.]
Jim White - "Christmas Day" [from no such place. perhaps this song stretches the boundaries of 'christmas' just a bit, despite its title, but it fits the loneliness theme of this set.]
Joni Mitchell - "River" [from blue. i love songs that use small interpolations of classic songs within their structure. (see my occasional rants about preferring the demo version of dwight yoakam's "i sang dixie" to the eventual album version.) and "river" is one of those songs that just makes my heart ache every time because of it.]
>
David Bowie and Bing Crosby - "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" [from the final bing crosby christmas special recorded before he died. the original video is, of course, a classic, and i have to play the dialogue along with the song itself. but this reinterpretation by will ferrell and john c. reilly is creepy in its accuracy and small changes. i dig it.]
Vince Guaraldi - "My Little Drum" [from a charlie brown christmas. this is, of course, a classic of the christmas music genre and i decided to put together a whole set of versions of "little drummer boy." every one in this set is decently different from one another, i believe.]
Low - "Little Drummer Boy" [from merry christmas. i heard this on a gap commercial years ago and was pretty blown away by it. i'm still really fond of low's christmas record in general.]
Beck - "The Little Drum Machine Boy" [from just say noel. hat-tip to jay ewing for mentioning this to me the other night. i always laugh when i have to edit holiday songs for lyrical content and this was no exception.]
the Flaming Lips - "Little Drummer Boy" (live) [from providing needles for your balloons. a good chunk of this EP is a live show from the transmissions from the satellite heart era of the band and it's an interesting take on some original and cover songs.]
>
the Kinks - "Father Christmas" [from come dancing with the kinks. there's hardly a rockier christmas song out there. i love it.]
the Didjits - "Under the Christmas Fish" [from hey judester. sacrilege seems important this time of year, so yeah, the didjits.]
the Pretenders - "2,000 Miles" [by request. from learning to crawl. sweet without being sappy. perfect.]
Type O Negative - "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)" [from october rust. the death of peter steele earlier this year was pretty sad, even if i hadn't spent a lot of time listening to type o negative in recent years. this song is still a staple of my christmas shows and, really, shows the band at its overly-dramatic best.]
Vince Guaraldi - "Christmastime is Here" [and why not some more guaraldi? from the same a charlie brown christmas, it's one of those songs i truly couldn't get away with not playing.]

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you all. I'll be back next week with the regular edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem. Until then, be safe, have a wonderful holiday, Go Panthers!, and take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 24th November 2010

[Welcome to the annual tradition that is a J's Indie/Rock Mayhem Thanksgiving. While what I do on this particular show changes from year to year, it usually involves theme sets of me being 'thankful' for certain things and playing songs that reflect that. This year is no different, and I was thankful for so much that, sadly, it meant no "Alice's Restaurant Masacree" this year. But that's okay. Let Arlo rest for once. I'm really fond of this year's show - or at least, I had a ball putting it on tonight. So here's hoping you enjoy it as much.

If you follow me on Twitter you already know this, but I officially announced the dates for the upcoming year-end shows. Wednesday, December 8th is the annual Top Singles of the Year show; Wednesday, December 15th is the 9th annual J's Indie/Rock Top 25 Albums of the Year show; Wednesday, December 22nd is the Holiday Spectacular. Glad to have that back on the air as opposed to last year when it had to be relegated to merely a podcast and no broadcast. Next week will be the last regular show of the year, so you better enjoy it, because things are about to get crazy the rest of the month. I mean that in the best of ways.

Now, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 24th November 2010 show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
>
Brian Eno - "Horse" [from small craft on a milk sea. this record has been getting pretty solid reviews from various places, but this is my first time playing it on the show. i'm a huge fan of eno's first three albums - the pre-ambient stuff - and have a ton of respect for him as an artist in general. we'll have to hear more. this first block was me being thankful for great, new music.]
Belle and Sebastian - "Come On Sister" [from write about love. this song sounded odd to me at first listen, but by the time the song was through, i was won over by the keyboard effects. pretty catchy song.]
the Corin Tucker Band - "1,000 Years" [the title track from her latest. so, according to an interview tucker did over at eMusic, this song was originally written and pitched for the soundtrack to the film twilight. i guess that explains the thousand years part..]
Abe Vigoda - "Crush" [the title track from their latest, a thoroughly enjoyable album that i'm having a hard time getting enough of.]
>
the Alcazar Hotel - "Suicide King" [these next two sets were themed around being thankful for great north carolina music. thus, the alcazar hotel who were on my show earlier this year and put out this fantastic 7" single this year.]
Lake Isle - "Wake Up" [the title track from this greensboro band's new EP. enjoy seeing them live just about every time i have this year.]
Gray Young - "Ten Years" [from their new album staysail. saw these guys play a fantastic show this past weekend along with jews and catholics and north elementary. bought the new album on (white) vinyl and it comes with a download code if you do. that's the way to sell music, folks. seriously.]
James Marshall Owen - "Nashville" [from gate city get up. we bade goodbye to marshall as he moved to austin, texas earlier in the fall, but he's back home for thanksgiving this week and is playing two shows friday night: the early show, 7 PM, at the green bean, and a late show with his band the subterranean bums, 11 PM, at the blind tiger.]
>
Filthybird - "Pick Me Up" [from songs for other people. i really enjoy this song a lot - the chorus is pretty infectious. we'll hear some more off this before the end of the year.]
Megafaun - "Lazy Suicide" [from bury the square. even though my reason for including them is the heretofore EP, i've played it so much recently and, well, obviously it's going to get play on the upcoming year-end shows, so i decided to play something off their debut LP. thus, this song, an old staple of the show.]
the Foreign Exchange - "Everything Must Go" [from authenticity. fantastic news - the foreign exchange will be playing at the carolina theatre here in greensboro next wednesday, december 1st. i would really love to go. here's hoping.]
Adam Thorn and the Top Buttons - "Through That Hallway" [from the new self-titled record. i enjoy the word play in this song (as i do in a lot of adam's stuff) and the closing line of the song makes me smile every time.]
>
Sharon Van Etten - "Save Yourself" [from epic. these two sets had the theme of great live performances i saw this year. not only did i see sharon knock 'em dead on her own at the hopscotch festival, but she also was part of the fantastic sounds of the south performance with megafaun, fight the big bull and justin vernon. truly awesome. did anyone see her with junip this monday at the cat's cradle?]
the Posies - "Love Letter Boxes" [from frosting on the beater. yes, they have an excellent new album out, but when i saw the posies last week, they pulled this out, my favorite song from their 1993 album. it was a highlight of a really fantastic show.]
Doomtree - "Game Over" [from their self-titled 2008 album. i went and saw the doomtree collective this past sunday at local 506 in chapel hill and was floored. i literally loved every moment of the show and every member of the group performed with great flare, but admittedly, this banger was one of the highlights.]
Twin Sister - "All Around and Away We Go" [from color your life which is bound for year-end glory as well. saw these guys open for bear in heaven in chicago; i had no clue who they were. 40 minutes later they had completely won me over. amazing.]
>
Active Child - "I'm in Your Church at Night" [from curtis lane. more of the live shows that made me thankful for live music this year - another hopscotch stand out. plus there's a new video for this song. looking forward to the full length next year.]
Titus Andronicus - "A More Perfect Union" [from the monitor. to say they tore the afternoon apart at pitchfork festival is no small statement, but completely accurate. really one of the most energetic and raucous shows there.]
Bear in Heaven - "Wholehearted Mess" [from beast rest forth mouth. the three times i saw them perform this year were each a wonder. and if you've seen them live, you know what i mean.]
Lower Dens - "Hospice Gates" [from twin-hand movement. when we brought this band in for a show at guilford, i had no clue who they were. now they're one of my favorites of this year; in no small part because of their live show.]
>
Conrad Plymouth - "Metamora" [from their self-titled EP. this set was a tribute to bands i got hipped to through blogs and friends this year that i might not have heard otherwise. this band is simply astounding and i have ryan at muzzle of bees to thank for that. thanks, man.]
R. Stevie Moore - "California Rhythm" [from phonography. this is a record i got turned on to via a post at aquarium drunkard. mid 70s self-printed records. gotta love it.]
Stornoway - "Zorbing" [from beachcomber's windowsill. this is a record i was introduced to via the greensboro record club and man, what an album. i'm still thoroughly enjoying it even this many months in.]
>
Jay Reatard - "There Is No Sun" [from watch me fall. this last set was about me being thankful for the lives of musicians who passed away this year. in the case of reatard, all too soon. he is missed.]
Sparklehorse - "It's a Wonderful Life" [so is mark linkous. this is the title track from his band's 2001 album. i would have included vic chesnutt here, but he did technically die last year, but his death no less colored the tone of this year as it seemed to kick off an unfortunate chain of deaths of great musicians who meant a lot to me. linkous' suicide was another one of those.]
Big Star - "Thank You Friends" [from third/sister lovers. and of course, probably the biggest looming deaths of 2010 proper, alex chilton and andy hummel of big star. i cannot wait for the third/sister lovers tribute shows at the cats cradle on december 9th and 10th. they're going to be ridiculously awesome.]

That'll do it for this week. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving and I will see you again next week. Until then, Go Panthers!, and take care.

J's Indie/Rock Podcast - Christmas Edition 2009

Hey, folks. I hope you're having a happy holiday season so far. J's Indie/Rock Mayhem is on holiday break this week, but I'll be back next Wednesday with the 8th Annual J's Indie/Rock Top 25 Albums of the Year. It's going to be an amazing show.

In the meantime, in what I hope will be the first of a number of non-radio podcasts in the coming year, I wanted to share with you my first attempt at a homemade podcast for the Christmas season. Since I didn't get to do the usual Christmas show this year, I've whipped together a few of my favorite holiday songs into a handy podcast that clocks in at just over an hour. This means it's perfect for downloading and burning to CD or putting on your mp3 player for the car trips over the coming days. There's a mix of classic and heartwarming moments, some hilarious, ribald and mildly sacrilegious ones as well. In other words, something for everyone. Check out the download link and track list below. As usual, the podcast is also available via iTunes.

Happy holidays and I'll see you next week!

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: Christmas 2009 Podcast

Big Star - "Jesus Christ" (demo) [from the keep your eye on the sky boxset]
David Bowie/Bing Crosby - "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" [television special performance.]
Josh Rouse - "Christmas with Jesus" (live) [from under cold blue stars radio sampler EP.]
Run-D.M.C. - "Christmas in Hollis" [from a very special christmas.]
Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" [from brain drain.]
The Kinks - "Father Christmas" [from come dancing with the kinks.]
John Denver - "Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" [from rocky mountain christmas.]
Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Skating" [from a charlie brown christmas.]
Joni Mitchell - "River" [from blue.]
Type O Negative - "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)" [from october rust.]
Johnny Cash - "Blue Christmas" [from the christmas spirit.]
Didjits - "Under the Christmas Fish" [from hey judester.]
Patton Oswalt - "My Christmas Memory" [from feelin' kinda patton.]
Elastica - "I Wanna Be a King of Orient Aah" (live) [from the radio one sessions.]
Flaming Lips - "Christmas at the Zoo" [from clouds taste metallic.]
Nicolai Dunger - "Going Home for Christmas" [from tranquil isolation.]
Jim White - "Christmas Day" [from no such place.]
Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Christmas Time is Here" (instrumental) [from a charlie brown christmas.]

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 25th November 2009

[Welcome to another edition of J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - the Thanksgiving special. As always, my show falls on the day before the Thanksgiving holiday, so it's up to me to spend two hours talking about things for which I'm thankful. This year's show is pretty fun and chock full of great stuff.

I'll keep it short and sweet - jam on this stuff while you jam on some stuffing. Onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 25th November 2009 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
>
A.C. Newman - "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer" [from get guilty. one of my favorite singles - of course, any newman album is a single factory.]
Obits - "Widow of My Dreams" [from i blame you. again, a single factory from this year. love this record.]
the Replacements - "Little Mascara" [from the re-issue of tim from earlier this year. i sometimes forget how great this song is, and people rarely mention it as one of the album's best songs, immediately overshadowed as it is by "left of the dial" and "here comes a regular." but great it is.]
Built to Spill - "Hindsight" [from the excellent there is no enemy. this album is chock full of great singles, too. that's my focus tonight, isn't it?]
>
Real Estate - "Beach Comber" [from their excellent self-titled debut. the thankful theme of this set is bands i learned about on the 'net this year. this is a prime example of a recent pick-up. of course, where do i hear most bands this year? it's not so exceptional anymore.]
Egyptian Lover - "What is a D.J. If He Can't Scratch" [from on the nile. not only did i hear this on the 'net, but it also sets up another thing i'm thankful for: sampling.]
Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf - "Red Light Green Light" [from big shots. this song uses a sample from egyptian lover's song to excellent effect. rest in peace, charizma.]
Echo and the Bunnymen - "Think I Need It Too" [from the new album the fountain which is quite good. quality bands that are around this long still making good records make me very happy.]
>
Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land" [from their forthcoming, still untitled album due out early next year. this is already available as a single oneMusic and from other places. the theme of this set is great concerts i saw this year and these guys blew me away at the pitchfork festival.]
Lambchop - "Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed" [from OH(ohio). i talked last week about what a great live show these guys were at the merge records 20th anniversary festival - totally stealing the show from the headlining acts, planted firmly in the middle of the night as they were.]
the Low Anthem - "Home I'll Never Be" [from oh my god, charlie darwin. easily one of the most beautiful live shows i've seen in years and if you can see these guys live, get on it.]
Vic Chesnutt - "Coward" [from at the cut. not only one of my favorite albums of this year, but one of my favorite live shows. vic and his band was in rare, amazing form when i saw them at halloween.]
>
Bear in Heaven - "Lovesick Teenagers" [from beast rest forth mouth. the late competitor giving a run for the top 5 albums of this year? you bet. this set had the theme of requests by friends who i am thankful for. this goes out tochris.]
James McMurtry - "Talkin' at the Texaco" [from too long in the wasteland and this goes out to jeremy. he was inspired by the new stephen king novel which apparently makes numerous references to this.]
Blackalicious - "Deception" [from nia. this goes out to michael who requested it weeks ago and i'm a bad friend and am just now getting around to it. love you, man.]
Arlo Guthrie - "Alice's Restaurant Massacre" [and this goes to rachel who requests this so her family can listen to it at thier annual night-before thanksgiving family get together. and why not?]
>
Telekinesis - "Great Lakes" [from their self-titled debut. this was a sampling of this week's aquarium drunkard best of the decade albums. this album isn't on the list, but it's unquestionably on the list of the best of 2009.]
the Constantines - "Soon Enough" [from tournament of hearts, the decade review of which you can read here.i've never listened to them much, but i love this song.]
the Roots - "Quills" [from phrenology which you can read about here. this was the piece i wrote about for this week. seriously one of the best albums of the decade, hip-hop or not.]
the National - "Fake Empire" [from boxer. i often feel guilty if my favorite song from an album is the opener, as ifi'm slagging the rest of the album. but holy crow "fake empire" is just such a perfect song. read the decade piece and see for yourself.]
>
Lemonheads - "The Outdoor Type" [from car button cloth. i mistimed my close to the show, but i did want to play this, one of my favoritelemonheads songs. during the 4 o'clock hour that i covered today i played the lemonheads' "rudderless" from it's a shame about ray, but i'll play the lemonheads all the time. good stuff.]
Beck - "Harry Partch" [long story short, this is the most awesome response to a diss i've ever heard. read the whole ridiculousness here and then try not to think beck is most assuredly the man.]

That'll do it for tonight's show. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we'll (hopefully) be up here next week with the guys from Lake Inferior. Until then, Go Panthers!, and take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 26th November 2008

[Ah, another year and another J's Indie/Rock Mayhem Thanksgiving Eve show. I do really enjoy having my show consistently land right next to a holiday - thank you, Wednesdays! The holidays are throwing off my year end/Christmas shows this year - there won't be an official Christmas music show this year. Sorry, fans of my always playing the David Bowie/Bing Crosby version of "Little Drummer Boy."

It's only two weeks until the J's Indie/Rock Top Singles of 2008 and only three weeks until the 7th Annual J's Indie/Rock Top 25 Albums of the Year. Still time to get your recommendations in for either one - what've been your favorite single songs and albums of this year? Leave it in the comments.

Now, while I'm drooling anticipating that canned cranberry sauce (you know it's real cranberry sauce when it still has the indentation of the can on it), onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 26th November 2008 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
>
Q-Tip - "Gettin' Up" [from the renaissance, his latest. every set tonight had a theme of thankfulness. this first one, admittedly, a little lame: thankful for good singles. oh, yeah. good one, j.]
Peter Bruntnell - "By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix" [from normal for bridgewater. this was the first bruntnell song i ever heard and this album is a solid, roots rock winner. wonder what he's up to these days.]
the Gaslight Anthem - "Old White Lincoln" [from the '59 sound. is there a song on this record as good as the title track? eh. not really, but still good stuff.]
Teenage Fanclub - "Sparky's Dream" [from grand prix. this song hung in my head for years, despite me not knowing who it was. alternative radio used to play some good music.]
>
Pavement - "The Killing Moon" [from brighten the corners - nicene creedence edition. this block i was thankful for awesome reissues. this is from the forthcoming reissue of pavement's fourth album, due out december 9th. this song originally appeared on the what's up matador compilation and the "major leagues" single. this is a favorite echo and the bunnymen song of mine, but pavement really does it justice.]
Joy Division - "Transmission" (live) [from unknown pleasures - collector's edition. both this album and closer got the deluxe reissue treatment this year - and about time. this one contains an enitre live show from the factory back in 1979. this was the set closer - a tremendous joy division song.]
the Replacements - "You're Getting Married" [from the re-issue of their 1982 EP stink. this is a paul westerberg solo demo of a song that never ended up on any album, but it definitely put paul's songwriting chops on display early. one of my favorite tracks from the slew of reissues this year.]
Warren Zevon - "Carmelita" (1974 demo) [from the reissue of his self-titled album. a friend told me on sunday, when talking about the g.g. allin documentary hated, that there is a rather moving moment of allin playing this song while sitting near/on a train track. i've never seen the film. anyone?]
>
the Foreign Exchange - "Daykeeper" [from leave it all behind. i am also thankful for north carolina music. especially here in greensboro, but i here ended up playing NC music from elsewhere in the state. only half of the foreign exchange is from carolina, but that's good enough.]
the Rosebuds - "Another Way In" [from life like. this album is really, seriously good by the way. the rosebuds are one of indie rock's most consistent bands.]
the Strugglers - "Limerence" [from the latest rights. a band i haven't played nearly enough this year and that i will have to fix. this song is pretty perfect, as far as i'm concerned. if it were any longer, it would ruin its perfection. i told the band that.]
Megafaun - "Lazy Suicide" [from bury the square. one of the surprise north carolina bands that i saw by accident - opening for someone - who, i don't even remember. which shows you how overwhelmingly great megafaun was.]
>
Arlo Guthrie - "Alice's Restaurant Masacree" [from alice's restaurant. you'll have to pardon my half-hatched attempt at comedy before the song, but the idea came to me in the shower as many great ideas do. the following is a quote from joe klein's excellent woody guthrie: a life. it deals with woody guthrie's last days in the hospital as he died from huntington's disease:

"One of the last things Woody Guthrie did before he died was to listen to a recording of his son Arlo singing a long, convoluted talking blues about how he'd been arrested for littering in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and how he'd parlayed that 'criminal record' into a means of dodging the draft and avoiding the war in Vietnam...

And as Woody listened to Arlo describing how he went to the draft board in New York and was 'injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected,' perhaps he heard an echo of his own timing and inflection...or maybe he was thinking back even farther than that, to Charley Edward Guthrie - his father - at the top of his game, entertaing the courthouse crowd down at Parson's drugstore in Okemah each morning with tall tales and patter...

Or maybe Woody wasn't thinking anything at all, maybe so many cells had died in his brain that he couldn't think very much anymore; maybe the smile that Harold Leventhal saw flickering as Woody listened to the record was just an atavistic twinge, an involuntary response - to a voice that was soothing and familiar, a voice that sounded like home"

>
David Byrne and Brian Eno - "Strange Overtones" [from everything that happens will happen today. i'm thankful for great collaborations this year. anytime these two men work together, it creates something pretty unique and amazing.]
Crooked Fingers - "Your Control" [from forfeit / fortune. a duet with the amazing neko case. let's have more of this in the future, eric.]
Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power and the Amorphous Strums - "And How" [from dark developments. chesnutt has made a career out of collaborating with a whole mess of people and this is just his latest. he is an amazing songwriting.]
Dead Confederate - "Goner" [from wrecking ball. they didn't collaborate with anyone but each other on this. i just didn't have anything else to squeeze in here.]
>
Greg Dulli - "The Killer" (live) [from live at triple door. i'm thankful for good live music. this is from greg's new solo live set, which works over mostly twilight singers material and some choice covers. it's a really low-key and gorgeous reading of some of his best work from the last five years. only available digitally.]
Paul Westerberg - "Left of the Dial" (live) [from a live performance on KFOG back during the eventually album promotion. the captains dead blog has the complete show (14 songs!) for you to download, so go check it out.]
the Reigning Sound - "You're Not as Pretty" [from time bomb high school. i am thankful for being alerted to bands i missed the first time 'round. aquarium drunkard introduced me to these guys a bit earlier this fall and i haven't been the same since.]
the Hold Steady - "Sequestered in Memphis" [from stay positive. and i'm just thankful for this song, period. man.]
>
Cool Kids - "Mikey Rocks" [from the bake sale. my friend michael turned me onto these guys, well, last night. and i'm going to be paying them a lot more attention. good, good hip-hop.]
Men at Work - "Overkill" [from 1983's cargo. a really, really fantastic song that i honestly can't hear enough, either in this original version, colin hay's acoustic reworking from recent years or lazlo bane's excellent cover.]

That'll do it for this week. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and to all a good night. Go Panthers! and I'll see you next week. Take care.

J's Indie/Rock Mayhem - 29th October 2008

[Greetings and welcome to the annual J's Indie/Rock Mayhem Spook-tacular! A lame name for a really fun show. Last year's show was actually on Halloween, so it was a bit of a disappointment to do this year's two days before, but I was still in the spirit and loaded down the show with goodness. Plus, since I ended up having to stay an hour over, I got to actually play all the Halloween music I wanted. So even you, podcast listeners, are in for an extended show. 2 1/2 hours, in fact.

Next week I'll be broadcasting my interview with Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine. They're playing here on Guilford College campus on Friday, November 7th, as part of the Guilford Homecoming week festivities. I had a great time talking with him a couple of days ago via phone, so I think you'll enjoy the interview as well.

Now, before they trick me for not treating you, onward.]

J's Indie/Rock Podcast: 29th October 2008 Show

Theme Song - Peaches - "Rock Show"
>
Brian Eno and David Byrne - "Strange Overtones" [from everything that will happens will happen today. i really can't get enough of this song. funky and vibrant and everything a collaboration between these two ought to be.]
Blitzen Trapper - "Black River Killer" [from furr. it's time to start thinking about the top 25 albums list for the end of the year and man, this album is going to be a tough competitor.]
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "Fix It" [from cardinology. i'm liking this album so far, though again, nothing jumps out at me. while the cardinals have certainly honed and focused adams in a way not seen in some time, it feels sometimes like some of the fire is gone as well.]
TV on the Radio - "DLZ" [from dear science. i need to get this album, don't i?]
>
the Streets - "The Escapist" [from everything is borrowed. one of my favorite songs on the album and a definite best single of the year.]
Wade Denning and Kay Lande - "Halloween" [from halloween: games, songs and stories. this was a treasured, yearly bit of music from my elementary music classes taught by ms. bracey. whenever i thought of the holiday for years, i hummed this song to myself.]
the Flaming Lips - "Halloween on the Barbary Coast" [from hit to death in the future head. a standard of the halloween show. i'm not big on this lips album in general, but this song at least is pretty righteous.]
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Halloween" [from the 1981 album juju. i, admittedly, haven't listened to much siouxsie and the banshees which is something i ought to rectify, but this fit right in.]
Type O Negative - "Halloween in Heaven" [from dead again. i can't go a halloween without playing type o negative. they're just too much fun. in a 'wow, how are you not a parody' sort of way.]
>
Deerhunter - "Nothing Ever Happened" [from microcastles. this song was highly regarded by some posts i've read across the web and it's no joke. this album is for real.]
the Advantage - "Ghosts and Goblins" [from their self-titled record. this band does nothing but cover music from 8-bit nintendo games and this is, of course, the theme music from ghosts and goblins. fitting, right?]
the Gun Club - "Ghost on the Highway" [from fire of love. this showed up on an emusic list of haunted songs and, really, anything jeffrey lee pierce wrote is haunted in its own way.]
Woody Allen - "Down South" [from woody allen: stand-up comic. a great bit about woody, a ghost costume, being in the deep south and hilarity ensuing with some klansmen.]
Suicide - "Ghost Rider" [from their self-titled debut. so why not a song about ghost rider? this song is more entertaining than the nicholas cage movie was, i gather.]
Henry Cowell - "The Banshee" [a performance from piano music. this is a dynamic composition that you can read about here. it's as unique a piece of music as you're likely to hear in your lifetime. breathtaking in many ways, too.]
George S. Irving - "The Big Toe" [and the return of irving's readings of scary stories to tell in the dark. these books were so important to me growing up and they continue to be an influence on the type of stories that i pay attention to and watch for.]
Tom Waits - "Big Joe and Phantom 309" (live) [from the dime store novels vol 1: live at ebbet's field 1974. this song originally appeared on waits' album nighthawks at the diner, but tells the classic 'ghost driver' story. think large marge.]
>
Alejandro Escovedo - "Sister Lost Soul" [from real animal. i felt like opening the sets with new music threw off the flow a little, but this one, title wise, at least fit in.]
Jurassic 5 - "Remember His Name" [from power in numbers. a classic 'whodunit' in the form of a story that eventually reveals that the person in question is...death. who knew?]
George S. Irving - "Room for One More" [another from scary stories to tell in the dark about a man who finds himself beckoned by death. good thing he knows to turn away.]
Joy Division - "Dead Souls" [from permanent. "they keep calling me," sings curtis. yeah, the dead keep calling you. just like in the story.]
Becky Miller - "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" [a reading of the emily dickinson poem about death showing up with a carriage to take you on your merry way. i thought it tied in nicely with the irving story.]
the Ramones - "Pet Sematary" [from 1989's brain drain. recorded for the film of the same name and from an album with only two great songs ("i believe in miracles" and "merry christmas (i don't wanna fight tonight)"), it's easy to get lost. cheesy fun.]
Bauhaus - "Bela Lugosi's Dead" (live) [from the 1979-1983 vol. 1 album. this version is originally from the press the eject and give me the tape live album and is a pretty awesome rendition of this song. i think i'll go watch ed wood now.]
>
Times New Viking - "Sick and Tired" [from the stay awake EP. was anyone else as surprised as i was to hear this band perform at the pitchfork festival? they're nothing like these records - dense noise and pop buried beneath. they're pretty melodic live. they'll be playing this sunday night at the cat's cradle in carrboro alongside deerhunter.]
George S. Irving - "Alligators" [again from scary stories to tell in the dark.]
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - "Nightmare on My Street" [from he's the dj, i'm the rapper. a ridiculous song in which the fresh prince encounters freddy kruger and things go from there. the freddy voice is admittedly amusing. if only they'd gotten robert englund to actually do the voice on the song as well.]
Nina Simone - "I Put a Spell on You" [from the best of nina simone. no one sang it like nina and this version of the screamin' jay hawkins classic is divine, to be sure.]
the Dream Syndicate - "Season of the Witch" (live) [yes, the donovan song. covered here on the day before wine and roses, an early live recording done before they had even done their debut LP. they run through some great covers and songs that would appear on days of wine and roses and generally sound pretty awesome. they tear this song apart and it's better for it. trust me.]
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "Hell" [from hot. the best song they ever recorded? i don't know, but i can't ever get enough of it. it's clever and catchy and just a tremendous song.]
>
Charles Camille Saint-Saens/Orson Welles/Charlie Brown - "War of the Great Dancing Macabre Pumpkins" [my self-composed mash-up of saint-saens' "danse macabre" and vocal snippets from the radio broadcast of the war of the worlds and a vinyl recording of it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown. i still love hearing how the emotions of the conversation actually somewhat match the music. my favorite being sally's tirade at linus over missing halloween as the music descends into the sad, depressing closing section. good stuff.]
George S. Irving - "The Slithery-Dee" [from scary stories... "the slithery-dee / he came out of the sea / he ate all the others / but he didn't eat...sluuuuuuurp!"]

That'll do it for this week. Tune back in next week for my interview with Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine and more new music as we begin our descent towards the end of the year best-of show. Until then, Go Heels (Panthers bye week!) and take care.